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Alabama gets all but two first-place votes in AP Poll

Daniel Uthman, USA TODAY Sports
1:30 p.m. EDT August 17, 2013

QB AJ McCarron, Alabama: Coach Nick Saban could be willing to open up his offense with several key losses on the offensive line. That should help his quarterback post more impressive statistics, making him a Heisman threat.(Photo: John David Mercer, USA TODAY Sports)

For the second time since 2010, Alabama is the No. 1 team in both the preseason Associated Press and USA TODAY Sports Coaches Polls.

The Crimson Tide, winners of the past two BCS National Championships and three of the past four, received 58 of 60 first-place votes in The Associated Press poll released Saturday morning. Alabama's percentage of first-place votes tied Florida in 2009 for the most in the preseason poll's 63-year history.

Alabama received 58 of 62 first-place votes in the Coaches Poll, which was released Aug. 1.

The Crimson Tide has been the AP's preseason No. 1 on three previous occasions, 1966, 1978 and the aforementioned 2010. It also is the 23rd defending champion to start the next season atop the AP poll.

However, history is not exactly on Alabama's side. Only 10 teams in 63 years of the poll have started the preseason No. 1 and finished that way. The last preseason No. 1 to finish the season at the top was USC in 2004. That USC team and Florida State in 1999 also are the only two teams to hold the No. 1 spot the entire season. And no team has won three consecutive national championships.

The rest of the preseason AP top 5 is Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford and Georgia. Ohio State and Georgia received the other two first-place votes. Ohio State's streak of 25 consecutive years in the preseason poll is the most in the nation. No. 4 is Stanford's highest preseason AP rank.

The remainder of the top 10 is South Carolina, Texas A&M, Clemson, Louisville and Florida. Teams 11 through 15 are Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame and Texas. South Carolina's and Louisville's preseason AP rankings are their best ever.

Teams 16 through 20 are Oklahoma, Michigan, Nebraska, Boise State and TCU. The final five teams in ranked in the poll are UCLA, Northwestern, Wisconsin, USC and Oregon State. The last time UCLA had a better preseason ranking than USC was 1999. Northwestern is in its first preseason poll since 2001.

Virginia Tech is not ranked in the preseason top 25 for the first time since 2004. The Hokies received 86 votes, which would place them 28th.

Five of the top 10 teams in the poll and six of the top 25 are from the SEC. The Pac-12 has two top-five teams and five in the top 25. The Big Ten has five top 25 teams, the Big 12 has four, and the ACC has two.